Bomb blast in Ras Beirut

First of all -- we are fine, we're safe at home.

However, we were very very close to the bomb that just went off in Beirut late this afternoon, which killed the MP Walid Eido (a member of Hariri's coalition) and his son and two body guards as well as at least 6 others. Waleed and I were walking into the outdoor al-Rawda cafe on the seafront with some friends and were approaching a table next to the water when the massive explosion happened.

The oddest part is how disorienting an experience it was. As Waleed noted, it's like blacking out for a moment. The first thing that happened was a physical effect, the sound of the explosion created a kind of concussion that went right through me. We all reflexively ducked and reached out for each other. A moment later I looked back to where the blast happened to see a column of white smoke and bits of debris like metal and pieces of paper flying up into the air, just beyond the ferris wheel. Another moment later the smoke turned black and billowed even larger. I only vaguely remember looking around at all the other people and families around us who had come to relax by the sea. They were holding crying children and were leaving quickly. We stayed a bit, feeling it might be safer than going towards the site, towards the road.

I went to the roof of the cafe and saw that the explosion was closer than we thought, less than 100 meters. I saw the flames coming from an alleyway just outside the cafe and saw the first cameraman arrive. There were numerous popping sounds like small explosions from within the blaze. Some people and waiters were wandering around aimlessly like us, I think there's a feeling of shock afterwards that is hard to shake. We decided we should go ahead and leave the area. Ambulances, Internal Security and army guys were racing to the scene.

Outside the cafe, where we had been only minutes before, some parked cars had broken windshields from falling debris or maybe from the sound wave. Across the main street the windows were blown out of a restaurant, waiters were pulling out the pieces of glass left hanging. Quite a few people were going towards the site of the explosion but we continued over the Corniche road up the hill towards Hamra.

I was sorry I wasn't carrying my camera as I sometimes do. But then again perhaps it's better since I would have been tempted to hang around and get closer. And soon enough there were TV crews and photographers rushing in.

Even now, hours later, I am hearing ambulances with sirens blaring speed past here in Hamra.

All in all a strange experience. It's hard to grasp. It comes so much out of nowhere that it's hard to process what I saw and heard. My mind keeps going back to the moment of the blast, trying to recall it better or recapture the experience. I was also shocked by the awareness at the time how there might be people dying so close. As it turns out at least 10 died. This was different from the other recent bombings here in that it was an assassination, happened in the daytime and killed quite a few people. The other recent bombs were all late at night and felt more like warnings meant to unsettle but not to kill.

I actually don't feel like I was scared, more stunned and shocked in a way that is hard to describe and that I've not felt from just watching the news.

Two photos our friend Najib Hourani took with his computer's camera, from outside the al-Rawda cafe.

Comments

[Waleed]

Najib, who teaches in a geography dept, says "was it 100 meters? i thought more like 40. just other side of wall."

[Blacksmith Jade]

Wow.

7amdella 3al salemeh.

[Michelle Woodward]

Thanks Blacksmith Jade, allah yisalmak.